Manny Delcarmen and 'Sox'... they had a thing going on.

Saw Manny Delcarmen on the TV talking about his potentially increased bullpen role and all his hard work over the break. When asked about his late-season success in Boston, he mentioned the Stinko de Mayo Disaster in Buffalo as a turning point for him. Damn!

I hope I get the chance to bring this up again and again.

Plenty of t-shirts left!

Former PawSox great BK Kim has been signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Did you know that he was close friends with former PawSox jerk Hee-Seop Choi? I think enough time has gone by and I can tell you that Choi was kind of an asshole who sucked at the plate. I saw him dis many a fan. I probably mentioned that already, but it bears repeating.

From the Providence Journal:
"Pawtucket hosted an autograph session with its players on the field prior to the club's game against the Rochester Red Wings. More than a thousand fans gathered on the warning track around the field to meet with players, who were sitting at tables. The only player not involved at the start of the session was Kim.

When he finally emerged from the clubhouse, opened the door to the dugout and witnessed just how many people were on the field, his jaw literally dropped and he turned as white as the chalk in the batters' box.

He quickly took refuge in the trainer's room and it took him 35 minutes to calm down before a team official escorted him out to his designated spot to sign autographs."

I feel like BK got a bad rap. Everyone pegged him as a hostile weirdo, but what the fuck. God forbid a pitcher not be a meathead turbo-jock who drinks Coors Light and listens to Slipknot/Godsmack/Creed. I'm talking to you, every other pitcher in MLB.

Getting to know Argenis Diaz.

Argenis Diaz is on the Red Sox 40-man roster. It is CRIMINAL that I know nothing about him, so let's get back to the countdown.

Diaz is a shortstop who played for the Greenville Drive last season. He pretty much ripped it up playing winter ball in Hawaii... until he hit a slump.

What we are most likely looking at is a great defensive shortstop who doesn't hit for power. He should start the year in Lancaster and then we will see. And by we, I mean you. I don't keep track of the California Kidz.

El Barto

Wicked fat starting pitcher Bartolo Colon's been signed (sort of) to a minor league contract by the Boston Red Sox. Yeah? You can compare him physically to Edgar Martinez, but let's break it down:

RHP Colon: 5'11", 245. Age 34. In 2007, he had a 6.34 ERA. Won the AL Cy Young in 2005. Really?

RHP Edgar: 6'0", 222. Age 26. As a reliever in 2007, he had a 5.16 ERA.

I suppose Edgar is in marginally better shape. I realize I am comparing bananas to pears here. I have now found myself more interested in Edgar Martinez than B. Colon.

So EM was a catcher who couldn't really hit or get on base, but he could throw hard. In July of '04 while he was in A-ball, he was converted to a pitcher. Who made this decision? I don't like it when catchers are encouraged to abandon their trade. MARS NEEDS CATCHERS!!

I saw quite a bit of Martinez in Pawtucket and I liked him less than I liked Jermaine Van Buren (although looking back, I may have been too hard on JVB). He gave up a lot of home runs.... walked too many batters. I didn't like him as a reliever and I don't know where he is going, but I bet it rhymes with "show hair". He's just not impressive.

Best of luck to both guys, anyway.

two mints in one

Sad news: Trot Nixon has been signed to a minor league contract by the Diamondbacks. That's like seeing Aslan after they shaved his mane off... or like Superman getting his ass kicked at some truck stop diner (before he says, "That's funny... I've never seen garbage eat garbage before). Oh, Trot Nixon. Love will find a way.

Blogger has a new feature where your readers can click on something and call you. Whoa! At first I had images of random people calling me and saying, "Your blog could use some work.... let me tell you what you need to do so you can stop sucking." But come on. I know what's really going to happen. My MOM is going to click on it and say to me over the phone, "Hi, honey! I just wanted to tell you I'm reading your blog! I love you! I'm so proud of you!"

I don't get Kyle Snyder. He's still here? How did he manage that? I always forget about him.

Chris Carter updates

Chris Carter is getting to the complex at 5 a.m. That is early in ways I cannot conceive of. Chris Carter is working on his fielding, as he is considered an infield lummox who needs to work on his strike zone. (Remember that hit song "Workin' on Your Strike Zone" by Soul2Field? I used to get my freak on to that joint back in '99.)

Chris Carter may be trampling all over Sean Casey's bench job, but we'll see.

Chris Carter is nearly as fast a runner as Ellsbury/Crisp. Mmmm... Ells-berry Crisp ala Mode.

Chris Carter has had hamate bone surgery, just like Dustin Pedroia!

It sucks doing an internet search for Chris Carter. There are just too many of them.

March 1 v. Twins! Hansack and Pauley scheduled to pitch! I hope it's televised!

Can we get someone down there?

The Boston Red Sox are in Fort Myers for spring training. You can read all about Manny Ramirez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Curt Schilling, Coco Crisp, Jason Varitek. Great coverage, everybody.

Hey! What about the minor leaguers? Oh, well, here's a few pictures of Justin Masterson and Michael Bowden. Look at the talent! Do you think Masterson will start the year in Portland or Pawtucket?

Would it kill someone to take a look at the non-prospect people down there? What about all of us Devern Hansack fans? What if I wanna see what Jeff Bailey's up to? Brandon Moss? Uhhh... Charlie Zink? Help me out! I'm trying to do this damn thing! Don't they have some crappy little newspaper in Pawtucket? Send down Brendan McGair or something!

Dusty Brown, not Kottaras. Put that on a sign or something.

giddy-up

I have a personal credo, which is: I Never Pay For Parking. (I also 'Park In The First Available Spot' rather than cruise the lot for something close.) But I do pay, at times, when I am in some strange land with no side streets and no non-resident parking. For the most part, though, I Never Pay For Parking. I hate it, I think it's stupid, I will park 12 blocks from my destination and schlep through the Providence Arctic Wind Vortex for my event du noir. Even those rare times I've driven to Fenway... I come up via Rte 9 and park near Simmons College. Probably a mile from the park what with all the Fens zig-zagging, but I'll be damned if I pay 20-50 bucks!

OK, I did a little Miller Park research and I guess there's no free parking to be had there. The fans are somewhat up in arms over the parking rate increase as well. And so when you buy your tickets online, you have the option to add the parking to your bill (it costs a little more on the day of the game). So I pick up the parking options and when my final bill is totted up, I see they've added a $2 convenience fee for the parking! Are you kidding me? Just when I thought I'd seen the most egregious forms of price gougery, they hit me with this! I mean, are you fucking kidding me?

I think what I am going to do is find out if they have a 800 number. Then I'll call it several times for no reason... maybe float around in their voice mail system as I reorganize my photo albums or balance my checkbook. Inflate their phone bill. That'll learn 'em!

Yay! I got Brewers tickets! YEAH SAUSAGE RACES!!!

The Station Fire: Five years ago...

As a Rhode Islander, you can't help being hit hard by the tragedy, even if you didn't lose someone. There are barely over a million of us... the people we lost were our family. People who sat with you in the stands at McCoy, or stood in line with you at Rocky Point, or went to concerts with you at the Civic Center. Did you ever listen to Dr Metal's Saturday night show on WHJY? I know I did, back in my high school metalhead days. And now he is gone, one of the one hundred.

Chuck Klosterman has written:

"This was not a bunch of hipsters trying to be seen by other hipsters; these were blue-collar people all trying to unironically experience music that honestly meant something to them when they were teenagers.
I remember everyone gossiping about the Station fire the day after it happened; people would concede that it was tragic, but no one could discuss it without a fraction of a smirk...
Somehow, it was socially acceptable to condescendingly chuckle at the death of the overtly uncool people in Rhode Island, sort of how you can immediately make a joke about a massive earthquake, as long as it happens in some distant place like Iran or China."

Anyway, these people are in my overtly uncool thoughts today...

Smarch

What the hell. It seems like everyone should start playing baseball like, tomorrow. Instead the first baseball game I am scheduled to attend is April 3rd. April! That's 44 fucking days away! Yeah, I know they're doing it in Arizona and Florida, but how does that help me?

The Buffalo Bisons and the Rochester Red Wings have not even started selling single game tickets yet. ANY DAY NOW, KIDS!!! Brewers tickets go on sale Saturday and I can't wait. I'm wondering if there will be a VWR for Milwaukee. I heard it from a friend who heard from a friend who said they're mad tailgaters in Beerland, WI. I am insanely excited about going to Milwaukee. I have wanted go there forever... and not even for baseball reasons. Not to hang out with Alice Cooper or Andrew Squigmond. Only because it is beautiful.

February is agony. And when March comes, I won't even be able to enjoy the evolution of spring. Or the coming of Easter, since my Lenten sacrifice has been rather difficult.

Even my mother is attending a Cactus League game. Brewers v. Mariners with a side of Sausage Race. "HIC-(killme)-UP".

PS Coco Crisp may ask to be traded. Does that make a difference? "Can you please trade me?" "NO." "Okay." Or do they say "Let's see what we can do" and then make a few phone calls? Baseball is confusing and liarhead.

The Rochester Red Wings love you hard.

The Red Wings official site is excellent. Can't wait to go back to Frontier Field and freeze to death!

Ben Mondor and the International League Hall of Fame

The IL Hall of Fame is back! Nothing's been going on since 1964, but 2008 is the 125th anniversary of the IL. It doesn't have a permanent home, so the ILHOF will be making the ballpark rounds in '08.

Ben Mondor and 26 others, including Jim Rice and Joe Morgan, will be inducted this year. Party at McCoy Stadium!!

Torii Hunter is human.

2.15.08 Providence Bruins v Portland Pirates - ???

Portland WINS! 4-2

Okay. I still don't understand the Providence Bruins. I mean, I guess I always knew there were people who liked hockey... people who like hockey more than any other sport. But I don't think I've ever seen one, you know?

And yet I go to a Providence Bruins game and there they are, in their hats and jerseys. Some bring cowbells. A few old-timers in their Providence Reds jerseys. Eight thousand plus fans, many of them passionate and involved. You should have seen the old woman next to me last night! She was SCREAMING and tossing peanut shells! FURIOUS with the Bruins' inability to score! At times, she was unintelligible. Man! She must have been from Woonsocket!

One thing I thought was neat: a players' stick got wedged between the plexi-wall windows. It stuck way out over the ice for a few minutes until a ref came and yanked it out. How does that happen?

Bobbleheads were given to the first 1500 fans last night.

PS Sean Curry is my favorite.

don't be afraid to care

Longtime Twins catcher Matthew LeCroy has been signed to a minor league contract by the Oakland A's. I would pay a lot of money (in Euros) to watch him catch Keith Foulke during spring training.

Although he spent most of his career in the Twins' organization, he played for the Nationals in '06. You may recall that he was removed from a game that year because the Astros stole seven bases while he was catching. Nationals manager Frank Robinson broke down in the post-game press conference. LeCroy fully supported the move, saying his daddy would have done the same.

I also found some old batting notes from his time in Rochester. For LeCroy, the notes mention "Yesterday: Danced on field w/Jimmy". What in the world does that mean? The notes also mention his last homer was off Charlie Zink. Wow, was I at that game?

He will be missed in the IL.

He can do it?

Manny Delcarmen might have to step up and be the closer from time to time. Or set it up Okajima-style. John Farrell talked to him and has challenged him with a role of increased importance. Let's hope for a big year from Delcarmen.

The PawSox souvenir shop sells game worn jackets. They're authentically dirty and have been authentically recycled, as evidenced by the Sharpied, crossed-out, and re-Sharpied numbers on the inner tag. I have a serious jones for the Jeff Bailey model, but at $200 I have to wait. The Manny Delcarmen jacket is $300, but is very large (almost...extra-large.)

February is short, yet long.

spring training

People are starting to show up to camp, which is good. It's like a resurrected corpse punching its way through the coffin, through the cold dirt, and you're in the cemetary to fool around with your boyfriend and suddenly an emaciated, bony hand explodes from the grave you're on top of. YEAH! It's a lot like that. YEAH ZOMBIE BASEBALL!

In a related story, baseball players are not looking forward to travelling to Japan. Oh, really, baseball players? Did I hear you lamenting the abbreviated games and practices? Because I seem to recall every single other year that you said "Spring training is great but it lasts too long. You're pretty much ready to go after a couple of weeks."

You think your life is hard? Someone gave me a little glass "Birthstone Bear" figurine. It's a bear holding a heart-shaped representation of my ugly birthstone. Also, the bear has wings. And it's sitting atop a little round mirror. It looks like something you might purchase with Skee-Ball tickets.

I still dig Doug.

Like iron-rich blood sinking to the bottom of a fluid-filled test tube, Doug Mientkiewicz's baseball career is similarly drowning. And so the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed him to a minor league contract. Hey, Doug, good news! The Pirates called! No, you're not going to Pittsburgh. More like Indianapolis.

Also a possible McCoy stadium visitor? Steve Trachsel! Norfolk Tides!

Foulke: Super-dope homeboy back in Oaktown.

Keith Foulke's back on the A's. There are many things I don't understand about all this, but okay, good for him. He's going to be a reliever, just like Alan Embree. I'm sure they'll have lots to catch up on!

I'm going to go buy tickets to an A's game in Boston now. What has two thumbs and loves Keith Foulke?

Hey, Mets fans!

The Mets home opener is Tuesday, April 8th, but maybe you might wanna wait and go on Friday, the 11th. Assuming Santana is your #1, that'll be the kid's first home game.